Presenting ALLpaQ’s 500 PLUS and 500L HYBRID Biocontainers

It’s time to give some love to our all-new all-plastic 500 PLUS container, as well as our game-changing 500L plastic and steel hybrid tote.

You will hear us talk a lot about our flagship 1000L Genesis and Cleanroom containers – but it is worth mentioning that our 500L units have always been popular.

That’s why we turned our attention to making them even more fit for purpose.

The new 500 PLUS was primarily the result of the hard work of our research team, based on crucial feedback we’d received from our valued customers, combined with our existing knowledge of the industry and its needs. 

The idea was to bring some variety, flexibility, security and quality to the industry.

We had observed a shortage within the industry and recognised that there is not a product out there that meets our standards, so we have decided to act on it and bring out something that will support the people on the shop floor working with the containers.

We’re all about making our customers’ lives easier and, when possible, safer.

How does the new 500 PLUS help customers?

There are a few points of interest, here:

Introducing the drop door on the long side of the container allows easy access for the operator when inserting the bag in the container or recovering the empty bag (potentially eradicating, or at least minimising, the bad back problems some operators have reported).

We’ve also added an optional extra to the Cleanroom version of the 500 PLUS. You could call it the 500 PLUS + This innovative custom view window on the short sides of the container helps you easily monitor filling and draining processes.

Similarly, we added internal volume indicators to help with measured filling and draining of the tote, plus there is now additional space for the safe packing of tubing and dunnage.

The 500 PLUS is made from one material, Polypropylene, which makes quality validation easier for our customers. It also simplifies the process of validating products that can be used on the container – such as cleaning products – since it is easier to validate a tote made of just one material.

We’d heard that there were issues with the lid catch, in that it could break in the rough and tumble of day-to-day use. In response to this, we designed a larger, more robust lid catch which is less fiddly to use, less likely to break, and the handle remains inside the footprint of the lid.

Check out these new features in this special Product Feature, they were all designed to help customers use our containers efficiently, to improve and simplify their workflow.

Our Innovative Hybrid Tote – Where plastic meets steel

Steel has been a market leader in the industry for many years and we were a disruptor in that, by bringing plastic into the marketplace. We know this has stimulated a lot of other companies to look at plastic solutions and, therefore, we’ve led the way into a revolution within biocontainment.

Well, now it’s time we did the same for the steel sector. So, what we’ve done with our 500L Hybrid is throw away the design book that most stainless steel manufacturers use.

For instance, it’s about five years since we introduced the Dynamic Door to our all-plastic range.  Standard stainless steel solutions have doors that hinge on either side and open from the front. So, you have hinges, catches and lock mechanisms which are all particularly good places for bacteria to hide and hibernate in.

With our Dynamic Door, we’ve designed away that whole bug-trap area which, we believe, offers unrivalled hygiene and cleanability.

A new base-line of customisation

The other thing we’ve done – is that a stainless steel tote is generally a welded component. The base section would typically be welded in place against the side panels. That’s restrictive in that it will only allow the single bag that has been designed for that tote to be used. If you change to a different bag configuration for a new campaign, and need to have drain holes in different places, you essentially need a whole new fleet of totes. 

So, in designing a hybrid solution, we’ve brought yet more innovation and complete flexibility. The 500L Hybrid has a removable, replaceable base which can simply be lifted out and replaced with a different base. We can custom design, for all of our customers, any number of different bases with different arrangements of holes.

This gives our customers a completely new configuration of steel tote – which they can change as often as they need – without having to buy all new steel totes. We can customise the number, size, shape and location of holes, to meet the demands of any particular bag.

The material we use in the base is a honeycomb of aluminium that is completely encased in plastic – which makes it as robust and as lightweight as possible.

We’ve had some excellent feedback on the hybrid tote – commenting on how strikingly innovative the idea is, and how hygienic. We’ve also received a few suggestions which we’ll take into account moving forward.

And that’s exactly what you want to achieve when you bring a disruptive new product into the market.

At ALLpaQ, we’re all about the innovation

Because our customers requested it, the tote has evolved – and will continue to evolve! We’re already planning further improvements to make the 500 PLUS and 500L Hybrid even more industry supportive and user-friendly.

Innovation is embedded in everything we do – it is our way of life.

So, if you have any bioprocess need that isn’t being fully catered for by your existing bioprocess workflow, our team of Business Development Managers, Technicians and Product Architects that can help improve your fluid management systems. Just get in touch. Give us a ring or fill in the form below.

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ALLpaQ

Packaging

ALLpaQ is the market leader in the design of innovative pharma containers and fluid management solutions.

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